


A Page and her Knight

by Psychopomp



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragon Riders, Eventual Romance, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Slow Burn, Talking Animals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 14:25:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20816636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psychopomp/pseuds/Psychopomp
Summary: After a great war, Kaoru is a slave and endured many horrible things. Now rescued by a kind Dragon Rider, Sir Kenshin, she quickly learns all she needs to move up in the ranks. But the longer she stays, the more she loves her new friends. And Kenshin, most of all. How can she love a man who she should hate? And when she is offered a chance to escape the life of a slave and as a warrior for the Other Side, will she take it and betray him?





	A Page and her Knight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This work is being moved over from FF.net. the transition over will be a slow one, but one that will happen eventually. If you don't want to wait, I have 20+ chapters over there, the story is under the same name.

The batter was over.

The battle wasn’t hard; even Shinta had to admit that…and he was only a boy big enough to carry a bamboo sword. He’d been in training since he was old enough to hold said bamboo sword. It was the only fate a boy with no parents could hope for, a life of battle. But he looked forward to it. He had seen first-hand what the oppression of the south had done to his people. His own parents had been killed by the terrorists of Kyoto. 

So when they came across a middle-sized band of Hythe warriors, it wasn’t hard for the men, teens, and boys of various ages to summon up enough courage to attack…no, there was plenty of it to go around. Even though many of them were just boys of tender age, they were able to take down the band of soldiers. 

… . . …

Hiko had to confess that he was disgusted at the Southern general for putting up such a fight when it was obvious his men were not up to the task. They all seemed half-starved, many were obviously ill, and yet their leader, this general, forced them to fight. True most of Hiko’s men were under the age of fourteen, but even so, they outnumbered the Southerners five to one. Hiko looked at the general. He was in an armor made of fancy lacquered wood and some chainmail. Most of his men-those healthy enough, had similar armor. The general had a mustache and a small tuft of hair under his bottom lip. He hardly looked any better than the best of his men. This troop had fallen on hard times indeed. 

This did not win Hiko’s sympathy. He took the general’s sword. Normally he would let the man of high rank keep his weapon out of respect. Yet Hiko had no respect for a man who would sacrifice his men when it was so obvious they would not win. It was good to never give up, but foolish to risk lives when so weak. He took the curved blade from the man and tucked it into his belt. His men combed the ranks of those left alive and took any and all the weapons they carried. 

“What are you doing in Arst?” Hiko asked the general. “Far too North for such a small band of Hythers such as yourselves.” He didn’t expect the man to answer, and he didn’t. “You seemed to of fallen on some hard times.” He continued, his narrow eyes scanning the sick and hungry men of his adversary. “If you surrendered, many of your men would be alive right now, and they would not be wounded nor would they be further weakened.” He watched the other man swallow hard, but his head was high, his chin up and his lips pressed in a constant thin line. 

“General Seijurou, you are needed at once.” A teen boy ran up to him, his face bright red, eyes wide. “Kyo has something you need to see, it’s urgent.”

Hiko nodded and stalked after the boy, leaving the general to be rounded up with the rest of his men. The forest was bright in the mid-morning sun; the crunch of forest litter under his feet calmed him. He had been startled when they stumbled upon this band of Southerners in the middle of Arst Thicket. At once he feared his troop would flee upon seeing the blue and yellow banners that always meant pain and suffering. But living too long under those blue and yellow banners had hardened his men and boys. They were tired of those colors and seeing them only spurred them on to attack with all they had. Even the tender youths who were only just learning the art of war. Not a single one of his men had fallen, a few of the boys had wounds, but none were very bad. Hiko had been lucky. He knew that if the enemy troop had been at full health, the outcome would have been different. They most likely still would have won, but there most certainly would have been deaths on his side. 

The boy led Hiko around large piles of supplies that the enemy had been carrying. Crates of what food they had left, but mostly wooden boxes filled with weapons. Hiko glanced into one that was being pried open, only to find it held dull, heavy bars of raw metal. Some had sacks of imported black powder, and his men handled them carefully and superstitiously, as well they should. Then Hiko rounded a large pile of tent material and found his confidant gazing into a large wooden crate. The taller man came to stand beside him and looked into the crate himself. 

Hiko stiffened. “God Fyrus, an egg.” And it was. Inside the crate was a mound of straw and upon digging into the straw they had found an egg, not just any egg, a dragon egg. 

“It is,” Kyo said. His hands rested on his slight paunch of a belly and he gazed over his eye spectacles at it. 

“No wonder they fought so hard when they knew they couldn’t win,” Hiko said under his breath. He suddenly understood the general; having such a treasure would be worth fighting to the death for. The confiscated sword burned at his side. He would have to return the sword to him as soon as possible, once it had been dulled to a useless strip of metal of course. 

“Do you think Hythe has many dragons?” Kyo asked, turning to Hiko. “If they do it would mean our doom. Our rebellion rests on the backs of our dragons and the fact that the South has none and their lack of knowledge of the fact we are gathering them and training them.” 

The very thoughts had raced through Hiko’s mind the moment he laid eyes on the shell. It was black, like wet ashes, with glittering veins of red snaking in random patterns. A beauty of a shell but it had been oddly cared for. The crate it was carried in was not made of solid wood. Even the box that carried a mass of swords was more solid and ornately decorated. This crate had only enough boards to keep the straw from falling out; it poked from between the gaps nevertheless. The wood was thin, light honey in color yet flawed with dark knots here and there. 

“They do not carry it in a pot of glowing coals, nor acid or underwater…this egg must be from a non-elemental dragon,” Kyo stated. “Rare these parts.”

Hiko tapped the thin planks of wood that made up the crate. “This is Qridor bamboo.” He ran a hand along the unfinished wood. “Hastily put together.” He added. 

“Do you think it’s a West breed?” Kyo asked. “They could be supporting the south.”

“To what outcome?” Hiko shook his head. “Anyways, the breed could be anything, Qridor , or something even further West.” 

“All I know is that it’s not Jiaganian.” Kyo sniffed. “I’ve never seen a shell like that in my life. And it’s rather large, not at large as a Seishokukyosei, obviously.” 

The egg of a Seisho dragon was large enough for a grown man to stand up inside. This one might hold a twelve-year-old boy if he curled up. Most eggs were small enough to be carried in a bag on one’s back, but that was foolish, the risk of damage to an egg was great if not contained properly. Elementals were difficult to keep viable, and the shells were soft and easily damaged. Something they had been trying to breed out of them.

Hiko reached out for the first time and touched the pebbled surface of the egg. It was warm, but only for the life that was inside of it, not from any outside source. “The shell is hard, like marble. It will be hatching any time now. Why would they move an egg ready to hatch? It’s foolish.” Perhaps the egg was from a hard shell variety of dragon. But the egg was too large to be one of those.

Kyo looked over at his friend. “Desperation. They have no dragons, only ground forces. Soon it will no longer be enough. Our dragons are growing fast and growing strong with each passing month.” He paused. 

“It will take a few years yet before they are ready enough for war,” Hiko stated. “But you are right, they are desperate.” His large hands caressed the warm shell. “In any event, the egg is ours now. We must rush it back to Breka.” 

… . . …

There was a rush of activity. More straw was stuffed around the shell and the lid was secured tight. Its crate was a sorry example for a way to transport an egg, but it would have to do on such short notice. The shell was hardened anyway; it would take considerable force to damage it now. The supplies were taken and the enemies as well. They were put in chains and driven along with them. They could not be allowed to return now and report that the North was in possession of yet another dragon. Let them think the foolish journey to retrieve such a prize was deadly and that the troop had all died by the jaws of a wild dragon or that they got lost in the magic infested wilderness they feared so and perished. 

Perhaps it would be enough to keep them from trying again.

But most likely not, not with the North growing as bold as they were. No longer did Hiko nor his people pay taxes to the South, send them their goods and half their harvest. The city of Breka was tired of Hythe sucking the life-force out of them, the heavy hand they ruled them with, the raids, the beatings, the public executions. 

Hiko’s own wife had been hung, her body left in the square with the other women who had refused proposals to live in Hythe or the even further South city of Eelry as concubines. Every day he was forced to walk past her decomposing body until it and the others rotted enough to fall from their posts. It was the same in every city and village in the North. Breka, being as large as it was, was especially treated with cruelty. But no longer, they rose with a force that surprised the South. They were beaten back out of the villages and cities. Retreating to lick their wounds, the South drove their soldiers and other ground warriors to beat back the rebels, but they failed. The North had an equal amount of soldiers and warriors of equal skill. They were at a stalemate. 

The dragons changed all that. 

The West Islands just north of the mainland had been breeding dragons for generations, undetected by anyone. These dragons were bigger, faster, stronger, and meaner. While the dragons on the mainland stayed small and pet like; never getting any larger than a small horse. Over a hundred years of careful breeding had created monster-sized creatures with very specific traits. Once the North mainland had found out and acquired these dragons, and the dragons of other lands, they knew they were the key to turning life around in Jiagan. They kept them near the Swildesh forest. The Root of Magic was in the forest and Southerners were terrified of it. They hardly went over their own borders longer than they had to. There the magic made the dragons even larger, smarter, more powerful. The North would rule, they would learn from the Southern’s cruelty and from their mistakes. 

It was this fact that had Hiko quickly moving from Swords Master to recruiter. 

But he was a Master of swords first and foremost. He quickly moved up the ranks in the rebel military, he was a general now. As his soldiers and students mixed to a point where it was hard to tell at what age a boy went from student to warrior, Hiko had trained a whole mass of fighters. These men spread out, filling the ranks, the gaps that existed in the border between the North and South. This further kept the South from obtaining any sort of dragon. They could import from the seaports on their side, but any dragons within import distance were inferior. 

This coupled with the fact that the South treated anything like magic and their kind such as dragons with extreme superstition made it doubtful that they would ever try and breed their own dragon army. But catching these soldiers with an egg proved that the South knew they were losing. 

It was only a matter of time before the South would fall.

… . . …

A week passed and the troop had yet to reach Breka. They were slowed by the increase in supplies and the prisoners of war they had to keep. Kyo and Hiko kept a close eye on the egg. It had started to rock, and scratching sounds could be heard from within. 

“It won’t be long, a day at most,” Kyo warned. “We should stop and get that harness ready.” 

Hiko agreed and called a meeting. 

… . . …

Shinta sat among the boys his own age. He glanced around at the curious faces. He wasn’t the youngest boy, but he was the smallest. Times had been hard for him in his few short years, and they had stunted whatever growth he would have had. At the age of seven, the boy was still the size of the five-year-old that sat three boys down from him. 

“What’s Hiko want to talk about?” he heard a boy hiss. 

“Bet it’s about that egg.” Another boy said. 

The teenagers behind him seconded the idea that the dragon egg was behind the reason for stopping in the middle of the day. Shinta strained to see the black shell that only just peeked over the edge of the open crate. He had never seen a dragon egg before, and any dragons he had seen had been flying high overhead, casting their giant shadows down on him. Like all Northerners, he was proud of the creatures that would bring about the revolution. Though, he didn’t know much about them. 

A hush fell over the crowd as General Hiko walked over to stand next to the crate. “The egg is hatching.” He stated, face flat and nearly emotionless. 

“Gets right to the point.” Hissed a young man a few rows behind Shinta. 

“We won’t make it back to Breka in time to deliver the egg to the dragon compound. As you all know, we cannot risk this dragon going feral. We lack spice to control the creature so it is vital that it accepts a harness and be trained.”

Already there was a buzz of whispered conversations around Shinta, but the red-headed boy tried to ignore them. 

Hiko looked over at the faces, young and old. “If harnessed before it's first feeding then we will be successful. One of us will have to harness the dragon. One of use will go through jimbaittai, the Unity.”

Gasps rose up from the boys. A slightly larger boy turned to Shinta. “Hope it’s not me, I want to be a swordsman, it would be unlucky to be stuck with a hatching for years while it grew up.” He hissed. Other conversations around him were pretty much the same thing. All the men and boys here had joined to be warrior, not a Rider. A Rider having gone through the Unity was stuck with the large beast for the rest of his life. 

“I don’t know; being a dragon rider could be worth it.” He heard a youth near fifteen say behind him. Shinta turned his head to glance at the wisp of a man. “Good money, good lodgings, you’ll get to be in the best battles I’m sure. Be famous, all the girls we want.” He snickered, elbowing his friend who was looking thoughtfully at the egg. “But we would have to wait years, be nursemaid to a hatching. I don’t want to be a babysitter.” 

Shinta turned back around as Hiko was hushing the crowd. “All will be present for the hatching. We do not know it's breed so we have no idea what form the Unity will take place. The dragon, of course, is the one who makes the choice, so it could be any one of us, even me.” Hiko looked somewhat perplexed at the sudden realization that he too was subject to be chosen. 

“Must all of us?” said a man in his early twenties in the back. The crowd shrunk away as Hiko pinned the man down with a hard gaze. 

“Of course we must. Dragons are the very reason we’re even attempting to rebel as we are. If not for these creatures we would all still be in the fields, the pits, in shops working for their profit. Frankly, it’s illegal to let a dragon go wild. If it does not pick one of us, and goes feral before we can get it to the compound, then at least we’ll have a dragon for breeding, but that will only help in the long run, we need fighters now, and any one of you should be proud to be exalted from lowly foot soldier to a Rider high in the heavens.”

Well, when he said it like that. Shinta looked down at the bamboo sword whose hilt he was strangling with his fingers. Did the general really think them as lowly foot soldiers? Perhaps it was because there were yet untrained. The few trained warriors that were with them were anything but lowly. They were grand, almost mystical in their power; power that was within them and the sword they wielded, not from the dragons they were riding. Shinta wanted that power for himself. He wanted to be a great warrior, not a Rider. He already had one year of training and he loved it so much and already had skill. How devastating it would be to have to start all over in a field that he was not at all familiar with…aerial warfare. At once he understood why the others were so hesitant. 

… . . …

There was a quick hunt for leather straps and buckles enough for Kyo to create a harness for the dragon. The Southerners didn’t have one in their stores; apparently, they didn’t understand that an unharnessed dragon would simply fly away into the wilds. Or perhaps they believed they would make it back home before the egg would hatch. But a harness had been made and the egg was set out on a bed of straw on the forest floor. The troop gathered around in various places around the egg. Some, those eager to become a Rider circled closer to the egg, those afraid hung back. 

Shinta was placed somewhere in the center of this crowd, he leaned around to see the egg. It looked much smaller now that it was out of the crate. 

Hiko placed himself closest to the egg to show his willingness to the rest of his men. But once the egg started to rattle, everyone forgot their fears and their attention was riveted to the egg. The egg rocked side to side for a moment, and with the sound of a cracking rock, the shell seemed to rip. The group jumped, even Hiko moved away as the egg trembled. The scratching noise grew louder and they could see a dark mass moving inside. A clawed hand thrust through the sharp edges of the cracked shell. It scratched at the outside of the shell as if frantic to get out. 

Little by little chips of shell fell and the gap started to get wider and wider. Then, with a sound like the ripping of fabric and cracking rock, the shell fell away in two large chunks. From the larger chunk rolled out a black and slimy mass. Straw stuck to it as it struggled to sit up. Everyone, even Hiko seemed to be holding their breath. It was the first time any of them, besides Kyo, had seen a hatching. 

A snake-like head sat on a long neck, its body was lean and thin and a long tail almost as long as its body stretched out behind it. It had two front legs, two back legs, and two wings folded and molded tightly against its body. Bright red eyes cracked open, the mouth split to reveal a shocking dark pink tongue and gums where small teeth were already growing. It hissed a soft and gentle sound as if taking its first real breath of fresh air. Wings flexed and unfurled like wrinkled canvas that had been packed away for too long. Wings stretched with strings of mucus-like goo hanging from the ends. The crowd was greeted with flashes of bright, almost glowing pink of the under-wing. The scales of the belly were also a dark pink; in fact, veins of the bright color crawled from the belly to mingle among the inky black scales of its side and back. Its back lacked the spines that most dragons had, but their absence created a sleek-looking creature. 

For the most part, the dragon ignored everyone. The group still stood silent and hardly breathing. It dried in the sun and seemed content to use its round muzzle to flick off the few chips of shell that had stuck to its hide. Once it was satisfied that every bit of shell was gone it allowed itself to look around at the crowd. Almost at once it lunged to Hiko. The man held his ground as the dragon stopped at his feet and rose up on its hind legs to get a closer look at his face. On its back legs, the top of the dragon’s head reached his shoulder. It was already as large as most of the wild dragons that populated the South. 

Head tipped from side to side, the dragon spent a moment studying him. Then at once it fell back on all fours and scuttled across the forest to look at each man and boy in turn, standing when the men were taller, sometimes sitting in front of the smaller boys. Each one got a moment of contemplation from the dragon before moving on. 

Shinta could almost hear the sighs of relief as the dragon passed them by one by one. The dragon was moving quicker now, taking only a second to stare at each man, until finally, the dragon reached him. The dragon didn’t sit but stayed on all fours as it stopped and gazed at Shinta and his shocking fire-red hair. One moment, two. The dragon turned its head to the side, letting one large eye get a better look at the boy. It sat, gazing at him for a few moments more, then slowly it leaned forward, small nostrils at the front of its face flared open as it breathed deep. Its head tipped down and bumped the top of its head against Shinta’s chest. 

Stunned, the boy only stood still as a statue before he felt someone shove something into his hands. 

“Put it on, hurry.” Hissed Kyo at his side. 

Shinta looked down to find the web of leather straps in his hands. At once the boy fumbled with the straps and buckles. With a few words from Kyo, Shinta was able to drape the main strap down across the shoulder and between the wings. The buckles allowed the straps to be shortened, which was good because the dragon was thin from living off the yoke in its shell. A strap went around the base of the neck, down across the belly and one strap went behind the front legs and one went in front of the back. A metal ring at the base of the neck strap allowed a chain to be attached. Shinta found himself holding that chain. 

“Well boy.” Hiko towered over Shinta, looking down at him. “You two will grow up together. If you take care of this dragon, it will be like an extension of your soul. We’ll take you to the compound where you will stay to raise the dragon.” Shinta must have had a panicked look in his eyes because Hiko patted his head and reassured him. “Don’t worry, my training grounds are across the field from the compound, you’ll see me every day. And if they allow it, I’ll keep teaching you swordsmanship.” 

“Thank you, sir,” Shinta answered in a soft voice. He was glad that he could continue learning about sword fighting but even better, he was happy that Hiko would be close by. Large purple eyes turned to the dragon who was already yanking at the chain to snap at a beetle scuttling across the forest litter just out of its reach. 

“Let’s see what we can hunt down for this monster,” Hiko said with a slight smile. 

… . . ..

Hunters brought back three rabbits for Shinta, and Hiko helped the boy clean one and cut the meat and organs from the bones. 

“Take it in small bits and feed it by holding the meat in your hand,” Kyo instructed. 

Shinta did this and approached the creature that had been stake next to a tree. The other men and boys went about life as normally as they could while stealing long glances at the dragon. They were all glad they didn’t get picked, but the dragon was still something that struck such awe in them. The boy carefully held out his hand and the dragon looked from the boy to the meat. Shinta could only hope that his fingers wouldn’t be mistaken for bits of meat. Thankfully the dragon was careful, dainty even as it plucked the meat and organs from his hands. 

Suddenly the boy was overcome with the massive responsibility for the creature he now cared for. He was not upset over the fact that his dream of being a soldier had come to a sudden end, but he was anxious over the fact that he knew nothing about caring for a dragon. What if he ruined such a wonderfully beautiful creature? The dragon had picked him…what was so special about an orphan boy from a battle-torn village? Why was he the one the dragon wanted? He stared at the dragon as if expecting the animal to answer him. 

“Hand feeding will help establish unity. You are the provider; the dragon won’t stray far from you now.” Kyo said, Shinta jerked out of his thoughts and turned back to the man. “Nevertheless, keep that dragon on the chain. The weight of it should be enough to keep him grounded for a while.”

“Him?” Shinta questioned. 

“Oh, yes. I had a chance to examine the dragon closely, a male, though I’m still not sure of his breed. Here.” He held out the other two rabbits. “Give him these, fur and all. He seems to take to the meat well enough, let’s see how he does with fur and bones.” 

Shinta brought the rabbits to the dragon. He perked up, small pointed ears lifted as his eyes went right to the food. The boy paused a few feet away and a slight smile played on his lips. The dragon looked almost like an eager puppy, he half expected to see the tail wagging, not curled around his talons. The boy held out one rabbit watching the dragon’s bright red eyes following the meal as Shinta raised and lowered it. Large, black, slit-like pupils widened to fill half of the glittering red iris. The boy tossed the rabbit in the air, sending it well over the dragon’s head. The reptile crouched, muscles bunched and he sprang upward and caught the rabbit with ease. 

Shinta laughed as the dragon tore into the rabbit, not at all bothered by the fur, he ate it, bones and all. Shinta tossed him the second rabbit and again the dragon sprung into the air to catch it. 

“He’ll need more food. Those rabbits will only last him a few hours.” Hiko stated, walking to stand next to him. “I’ll send the hunters back out to see if they can get a boar or a deer. But if it comes to it, we can start sacrificing the oxen.” 

“But Sir.’ 

“No, it’s alright. We must keep the dragon well and healthy, it will still be a week more before we reach the compound. This first week is important. I will not deny him what he needs to grow.”

As he had been denied what he needed to grow. Shinta glanced over at the dragon who had finished the second rabbit and was busy flicking off bits of fur from his scales. 

“Have you thought of a name for him yet?” Hiko asked. “He’ll need one soon so that he’ll learn it by the time he reaches the compound.”

A name? Shinta blinked. He hadn’t given it any thought. Of course, the dragon would need a name. “His name…is…” he thought a moment. Many of the dragon names he had heard were grand, difficult yet impressive names. He wasn’t sure he wanted to give his dragon such a name. He wanted something simple, like his own name. Shinta turned back to the dragon. “Kokuei”

**Author's Note:**

> Kokuei = Shadow


End file.
